The History of The SS396 and the 442

Much has been written about the History of the Pontiac GTO but you don't see a lot about the 442 or SS396. I thought I'd give a history lesson on how the GTO helped spawn these two other iconic musclecars. In the late '50's and early '60's most performance cars were full-size models. Smokey Yunick and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of NASCAR in their fire-breathing 389 and 421 Pontiac Catalinas. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was having great success in drag racing with 409 Impalas and Ford had their 406 Galaxies, and Chrysler had their 413 Dodges and Plymouths. Olds had the famous "Rocket 88" with a tri-power 394 inch V8. This is where the motto-"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" came from. Then in 1963, GM laid down the famous ban on racing. No more racing, period. Not even the previous wink,wink, back door stuff to people like Mickey Thompson or Arnie Beswick. John De Lorean, and Pete Estes, who along with Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen had helped Pontiac rise from sixth place to third in sales just behind Chevrolet and Ford. They had accomplished this by building exciting, fast cars. Knudsen's motto was-"You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man." He was proved right. Knudsen got promoted to President of Chevrolet, but DeLorean and Estes were still at Pontiac. They feared without racing success, they'd lose their high-performance image. Estes said-"Forget a race car-let's build a high-performance STREET car!"  The rule at the time was big cars got big engines, small cars got small engines. No intermediate ( I..E.-Cutlass, LeMans, Chevelle,Buick Skylark) could have an engine over 330 cubic inches.  DeLorean was pissed that Oldsmobile had put the "small car" 330 V8 in the Delta 88 as a step-down option and cut the price. A direct assault on the Pontiac Catalina. Estes said the loophole worked both ways. The rule was for STANDARD engines. They could take the 389 out of the Catalina and put it in the mid-size LeMans as an OPTION. Estes and DeLorean had hoped to sell 10,000 units. They sold 32,450. Chevrolet and Oldsmobile bitched, but the brass never argued with sales success. Oldsmobile quickly came out with the 442 Option which stood for 4 barrel carb, 4-speed trans, and dual exhausts. But with only 330 cubes, it really wasn't a competitor for the mighty 389 GTO. Ditto for the 327 inch Malibu SS. For 1965 the other divisions fought back. Chevrolet put the big-block 396 in the Chevelle and Oldsmobile put the 400 V8 in the 442. Buick even put their 400 inch V8 in the Skylark. The GTO was still king of the street, selling over 75,000 units, more than double '64's sales. In 1966, things really heated up. Oldsmobile offered a tri-power ram air option on the 442 to compete with the GTO's 360 hp tri-power 389, and Chevrolet offered a solid-lifter 396 rated at 375 hp, that had been rated at 425 in the Corvette. In 1968 GM redesigned the intermediates with a sexy new body that would carry on until 1972. The GTO won  Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award, and George Hurst took a 455 V8 out of the Toronado and stuffed it in a 442 and created the Legendary "Hurst Olds".  Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania Chevy dealer started putting 427s in Chevelles. With Ford putting 428s in Mustangs and Torinos, and Chrysler putting 440s and 426 Hemis in Chargers and Road Runners, the Horsepower race was on. But that's how it started, with GM's infamous 1963 ban on racing. Mastermind